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• High levels of anxiety negatively influence children’s academic performance (Mazzone, Ducci, Scoto, Passaniti, D'Arrigo, & Vitiello, 2007).
• Social anxiety is a form of anxiety that has not been studied in relation to academic performance (La Greca & Stone, 1993).
• Because girls are more dependent on social relationships than boys (Cross & Madson, 1997), threats to social relationships and resulting social anxiety may be more problematic on academic performance for girls.
METHOD RESULTS (CONT’)
DISCUSSION
INTRODUCTION
Figure 1. Social Anxiety and Math Grade
Figure 2. Social Anxiety and Reading/Writing Competency
Figures 3. Social Anxiety and Science Competency
• Although there were no gender differences in the level of social anxiety, social anxiety negatively affected girls’ academic performance but generally did not relate to boys’ performance. These findings suggest that social factors may be important determinants of girls’ academic performance.
• Social anxiety affected girls’ overall academic performance, but more consistently affected girls’ performance in math and science, which are traditionally male subject areas, than reading/writing. Social anxiety in combination with a stereotype threat in male subject areas may have a compounding negative influence on girls’ academic performance.
(1) Are there gender differences in academic performance (i.e., grades and competency)?
H1: Girls will have higher grades and academic competency than boys in reading/writing and boys will be higher in math and science (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002).
(2) Does social anxiety influence academic performance?
H2: Social anxiety will be negatively related to academic performance.
(3) Do the effects of social anxiety on academic performance vary for girls and boys?
H3: Gender differences will be found with the negative effect being stronger for girls than boys.
Participants and Procedures
267 children from 40 fifth-grade classrooms in 13 schools (girls = 49%) participated.
Primary teachers completed questionnaires about children in their classes.
Teacher Measures
• Social anxiety (3-point scale; α = .83) Assessed whether the child feels
uncomfortable when interacting with peers (adapted from La Greca & Stone, 1993)
• Grades (5-point scale; α = .89) (1) Language Arts (reading, writing, spelling),
(2) Math, (3) Science
• Academic competency (7-point scale) Child’s competency in reading/writing (α
= .87), math (α = .90), and science (α = .87) (adapted from Simpkins et al., 2006)
Is Social Anxiety Limiting Children’s School Success? Hwaheun Kim, Dawn England, Julie Sallquist, Carol Lynn Martin, Laura D. Hanish, and Richard A. Fabes
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Regression Analyses
A series of regression analyses were conducted to examine the main effects of gender and social anxiety on grades and academic competency, as well as interactions (see Table 2).
• Main EffectsThere were significant effects of gender on reading/writing grades, a
marginal effect on science grades, and a significant effect on reading/ writing competency, and significant negative effects of social anxiety
on competency in math, science, and reading/writing.
• Gender as a moderator of social anxiety and academic performance:
• For girls: Social anxiety was negatively related to academic performance.
• The slopes for girls were significant for math grades. (Figure 1)
• The slopes for girls were significant for reading/writing competency. (Figure 2)
• The slopes for girls were significant for science competency. (Figure 3)
• For boys: No significant effects of social anxiety on academic performance. (Figures 1, 2, and 3)
Table 2. Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Grades and Teacher Ratings of Competency From Children’s Sex and Social Anxiety
Note. Girls are coded as 1, boys coded as 0. ** p < .01; * p < .05; † p < .10; n = 131
RESULTS
Descriptive Analyses Table 1.
Note. Items with a same superscript significantly differ across rows, p<.05, † indicates marginal
significance.
Grades Teacher Ratings of Competency
Read/Writing Math Science Read/Writing Math Science
Predictor ∆R2 β ∆R2 β ∆R2 β ∆R2 β ∆R2 β ∆R2 β
Step1. Child Sex .05 .41** .01 .15 .01 .19† .04 .48** .00 -.06 .00 .08
Step2. Social Anxiety .06 -.46** .04 -.38** .03 -.31** .07 -.72** .05 -.66** .05 -.52**
Step3. Child Sex x Social Anxiety
.01 -.31 .02 -.49* .00 -.14 .01 -.57† .01 -.50 .02 -.72*
Total R2 .11 .06 .05 .12 .06 .07
RESULTS (CONT’)
The CataLyST Project was funded by the T. Denny
Sanford Foundation and the School of Social and Family Dynamics, ASU
For further information, please send an email to Hwaheun Kim ([email protected])
-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.53
4
5
6
female male
Social Anxiety
Read
ing
/Wri
tin
g C
om
-p
ete
ncy
-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.53
4
5
6
female male
Social Anxiety
Scie
nce C
om
pete
ncy
-0.5 0 0.5 1 1.53
4
5
6
female male
Social Anxiety
Math
Gra
de
Means and Standard Deviations of Social Anxiety, Grades, and CompetencyGirls (N = 131) M (SD )
Boys (N = 136) M (SD )
Social Anxiety 1.44 (.47) 1.36 (.46)
Reading/Writing Grades 4.40 (.78)a 4.00 (.95)a
Math Grades 4.21 (.84) 4.05 (.97)
Science Grades 4.47 (.76)b† 4.27 (.89)b†
Reading/Writing Competency 4.95 (1.21)c 4.47 (1.26)c
Math Competency 4.73 (1.26) 4.78 (1.37)Science Competency 4.79 (1.03) 4.70 (1.18)